In general, there are numerous scanning technologies by which a physical object, compound, biological entity, or other sample can be investigated using targeted waves. Many modern day wave-based scanning technologies used to evaluate samples collect a multi-spectral signal using a signal collector, receive the signal (mix, filter, digitally sample), and then perform a mathematical transformation, typically a Fourier Transform (FT) or Inverse Fourier Transform (IFT) to create a final image or image/signal profile.
The waves that are used in these technologies can be electromagnetic or mechanical. Technologies based on nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) or nuclear quadrupole resonance (NQR) use electromagnetic waves to obtain information about a sample. These types of scanning technologies non-destructively evaluate biological samples and non-biological samples alike. In all cases, the resulting information is then used to create images or image/signal profiles.
Implicit in the resulting images and image/signal profiles in these technologies is a significant noise component relative to that of the desirable signal component. Many improvements to signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) in these scanning technologies focus on improving signal, and thereby improving SNR. The SNR, however, can also be increased by reducing noise. Methods to reduce noise, such as signal averaging, however, typically have an incremental effect on overall SNR, at the cost of scan time or spatial resolution.
The present invention describes a fundamental change in how scan data is collected and processed such that noise is substantially reduced compared to present scanning technologies. As such, the present invention represents a significant achievement in SNR improvement methodology and devices.